06-25-2019, 03:00 PM
As a follow up to what's been going on for the past month now:
So I dropped the car off at the dealership on May the 20th and put in a call to the selling dealer. They put me in a rental car which I charged to the corporate dealer account (Selling dealer, not Harrisonburg dealer where the car is currently). This has been my ride for over a month now while the car sat at the dealer. I was in a minivan for about two weeks before the registration and inspection expired (Good job Enterprise renting out a car that had everything expire within a week of having), and now I'm in an F150 which I'm actually quite enjoying, we'll get to that later.
This has been a huge back and forth process between Lithia Motors corporate, who is the parent company of the selling dealership in Iowa, and Fiat Chrysler Corporate. This is because once I dropped the car off, after about a week of waiting for space on the schedule, a tech took a quick look at the Jeep and said, "The oil is burnt and therefore nothing will be covered under its factory powertrain warranty". I claimed BS, saying, of course the oil is burnt, and they directed me to contact FCA corporate in order to get an approval from them because the dealer would not cover any warranty work without a go-ahead from corporate. So I called corporate and was informed that the selling dealer never contacted FCA to change ownership of the vehicle, so first I had to notify FCA that I was now the new owner of the vehicle before I could submit any warranty claim. The kicker is, that process takes about two weeks to go through..awesome.
So at this point, I contact Lithia to say that they should cover this repair, and can work out reimbursement with FCA after the fact. I said this because it would take at least two weeks for the dealer in Harrisonburg to order the engine, have it shipped, and have it installed. So I can wait two weeks for ownership to go through, then another week for the actual warranty claim with FCA, and then another two weeks to actually get the work performed. Or I can have Lithia give a go ahead, get the 2-week repair going, and in that time also work with FCA so we can actually be efficient. This idea was of course vetoed by Lithia, "Anything covered under the factory warranty is not covered by us", "Yeah but they're not covering it under the warranty", "Your problem, not ours".
Long story short, I had to go back to FCA and avoid Lithia entirely for the past few weeks. I gave the go-ahead to the Harrisonburg dealer to do a complete engine teardown (10+ hours of labor that I was on the line for if it wasn't covered under warranty), and submit pictures of the engine's internal to FCA in order to get a warranty claim either approved or denied. This, of course, lined up with when the head SA and Shop Lead were out of town, so it added another two weeks to even getting these things submitted. Well after being told initially this engine would not be covered by the dealership, I finally got a call yesterday from the SA saying she was able to get a brand new long block from FCA covered under warranty. This also means I don't have to pay the $1,000+ in diagnostics, and that I don't have to deal with Lithia in any more regards (Side note: they were one of the worst experiences I have ever had with getting a warranty covered, and just goes to show that just because you have a warranty, doesn't mean some fine print can't ruin your entire day, or for me your entire month).
So here we are, more than a month after dropping this vehicle off at the dealership. I owned and drove the Jeep for 10 days, and it will have been at a dealership for almost 50 days out of service. For these 50 days, I will have been making payments on the new car I don't have, and instead be driving around rental cars. This brings me back to the beginning, where I said I really liked the F150 I have as a rental. It is a base, cloth interior, bone stock 18' F150, and I kind of love it. I started thinking maybe I should have just bought one of these, and gotten a lower model than what I was pricing out in order to stay within my budget, but have something that would be more reliable, have been retainment of value, and be a better vehicle overall.
It's really hard for me to say whether or not I like the Jeep enough to keep compared to an F150 or otherwise, because I had it for so short, and it's been so long since I've even sat in it. But I do remember little things like the infotainment being quirky, the engine being luggy at low speeds (as if it needs to drop a gear but won't, and instead vibrates the car), or the sound system cutting out at the drops of a song (maybe protecting the speakers from blowing out, or maybe a bad quality surround sound system that can't handle the wattage).
This is combined with me realizing that after I graduate next year and get a job, I will have a ton of expenses to cover. I made a budget and realized I'm really not in the place financially that I thought I was in before. I started thinking about living situations, and the possibility of also buying property out of college rather than spending more on rent than I would on a mortgage (Maybe you all with ownership experience can shed some light on this, possibly in a different thread). I can absolutely afford the loan payments, so it is not necessary, but I just wonder if getting rid of this $15k loan, and instead buying a cheap car and keeping a big cash reserve for a downpayment is a better idea. I do really like this car, but just floating around ideas. One of the catalysts of this thought was that I never even got a chance to go to the DMV after buying this car. I literally haven't even registered or titled it yet. This means that I haven't paid the $1,000+ in taxes that will be required when I get the plates and titling taken care of (Never paid these because I bought the car out of state and they didn't want to do VA taxes).
Honestly not sure about how I could sell this vehicle, and if I would have to inevitably pay those taxes before having to sell it, but it might be a good reason to get out of the car sooner rather than later. On the other side, it will be a nearly new car, with a powertrain warranty, and a brand new engine.
Wanted to get my thoughts out there and see what y'all thought. Do you think I should just keep this car since it now has a brand new engine and warranty? Should I sell it and buy something cheaper, yet older. Does it make sense to save money for a downpayment on property right after college? Should I just sell everything and go travel the world? Maybe just pick up an Amish lifestyle and get rid of all this stress?
So I dropped the car off at the dealership on May the 20th and put in a call to the selling dealer. They put me in a rental car which I charged to the corporate dealer account (Selling dealer, not Harrisonburg dealer where the car is currently). This has been my ride for over a month now while the car sat at the dealer. I was in a minivan for about two weeks before the registration and inspection expired (Good job Enterprise renting out a car that had everything expire within a week of having), and now I'm in an F150 which I'm actually quite enjoying, we'll get to that later.
This has been a huge back and forth process between Lithia Motors corporate, who is the parent company of the selling dealership in Iowa, and Fiat Chrysler Corporate. This is because once I dropped the car off, after about a week of waiting for space on the schedule, a tech took a quick look at the Jeep and said, "The oil is burnt and therefore nothing will be covered under its factory powertrain warranty". I claimed BS, saying, of course the oil is burnt, and they directed me to contact FCA corporate in order to get an approval from them because the dealer would not cover any warranty work without a go-ahead from corporate. So I called corporate and was informed that the selling dealer never contacted FCA to change ownership of the vehicle, so first I had to notify FCA that I was now the new owner of the vehicle before I could submit any warranty claim. The kicker is, that process takes about two weeks to go through..awesome.
So at this point, I contact Lithia to say that they should cover this repair, and can work out reimbursement with FCA after the fact. I said this because it would take at least two weeks for the dealer in Harrisonburg to order the engine, have it shipped, and have it installed. So I can wait two weeks for ownership to go through, then another week for the actual warranty claim with FCA, and then another two weeks to actually get the work performed. Or I can have Lithia give a go ahead, get the 2-week repair going, and in that time also work with FCA so we can actually be efficient. This idea was of course vetoed by Lithia, "Anything covered under the factory warranty is not covered by us", "Yeah but they're not covering it under the warranty", "Your problem, not ours".
Long story short, I had to go back to FCA and avoid Lithia entirely for the past few weeks. I gave the go-ahead to the Harrisonburg dealer to do a complete engine teardown (10+ hours of labor that I was on the line for if it wasn't covered under warranty), and submit pictures of the engine's internal to FCA in order to get a warranty claim either approved or denied. This, of course, lined up with when the head SA and Shop Lead were out of town, so it added another two weeks to even getting these things submitted. Well after being told initially this engine would not be covered by the dealership, I finally got a call yesterday from the SA saying she was able to get a brand new long block from FCA covered under warranty. This also means I don't have to pay the $1,000+ in diagnostics, and that I don't have to deal with Lithia in any more regards (Side note: they were one of the worst experiences I have ever had with getting a warranty covered, and just goes to show that just because you have a warranty, doesn't mean some fine print can't ruin your entire day, or for me your entire month).
So here we are, more than a month after dropping this vehicle off at the dealership. I owned and drove the Jeep for 10 days, and it will have been at a dealership for almost 50 days out of service. For these 50 days, I will have been making payments on the new car I don't have, and instead be driving around rental cars. This brings me back to the beginning, where I said I really liked the F150 I have as a rental. It is a base, cloth interior, bone stock 18' F150, and I kind of love it. I started thinking maybe I should have just bought one of these, and gotten a lower model than what I was pricing out in order to stay within my budget, but have something that would be more reliable, have been retainment of value, and be a better vehicle overall.
It's really hard for me to say whether or not I like the Jeep enough to keep compared to an F150 or otherwise, because I had it for so short, and it's been so long since I've even sat in it. But I do remember little things like the infotainment being quirky, the engine being luggy at low speeds (as if it needs to drop a gear but won't, and instead vibrates the car), or the sound system cutting out at the drops of a song (maybe protecting the speakers from blowing out, or maybe a bad quality surround sound system that can't handle the wattage).
This is combined with me realizing that after I graduate next year and get a job, I will have a ton of expenses to cover. I made a budget and realized I'm really not in the place financially that I thought I was in before. I started thinking about living situations, and the possibility of also buying property out of college rather than spending more on rent than I would on a mortgage (Maybe you all with ownership experience can shed some light on this, possibly in a different thread). I can absolutely afford the loan payments, so it is not necessary, but I just wonder if getting rid of this $15k loan, and instead buying a cheap car and keeping a big cash reserve for a downpayment is a better idea. I do really like this car, but just floating around ideas. One of the catalysts of this thought was that I never even got a chance to go to the DMV after buying this car. I literally haven't even registered or titled it yet. This means that I haven't paid the $1,000+ in taxes that will be required when I get the plates and titling taken care of (Never paid these because I bought the car out of state and they didn't want to do VA taxes).
Honestly not sure about how I could sell this vehicle, and if I would have to inevitably pay those taxes before having to sell it, but it might be a good reason to get out of the car sooner rather than later. On the other side, it will be a nearly new car, with a powertrain warranty, and a brand new engine.
Wanted to get my thoughts out there and see what y'all thought. Do you think I should just keep this car since it now has a brand new engine and warranty? Should I sell it and buy something cheaper, yet older. Does it make sense to save money for a downpayment on property right after college? Should I just sell everything and go travel the world? Maybe just pick up an Amish lifestyle and get rid of all this stress?
Current:
13' E92 M3 Comp | 05' Yahama R6 | 95' E36 M3
Past:
14' BMW 335xi GT | 06' Porsche Boxster S | 15' Jeep Grand Cherokee | 84' BMW 733i | 85' Honda Shadow VT700 | 06' Acura TL